A Galway councillor has warned intransigent opposition to windfarms given the need for wind energy in the county – but at the same time, Cllr Gerry Finnerty cautioned against the proliferation of windfarms in areas where residents have concerns.

The Gort councillor was specifically referring the Derrybrien Wind Farm, which is located near the town and has been the subject of several objections over the years.

In a long-running saga, the European Commission recently indicated that it would bring Ireland back to the European Court of Justice issues connected to the Derrybrien Wind Farm outside Gort and impose a very substantial fine.

The Commission said it was bringing the action over what it claimed was “Ireland’s failure to comply with a previous EU court judgement by not properly carrying out an environmental impact assessment”.

Cllr Finnerty said that there was a need for consultation on the issue as energy sources had to be sought but livelihoods had to be secured in the process. “Unfortunately, there is no happy medium in this situation,” he added.

The wind farm was one of the largest in Europe when it was built in 2003 but became surrounded by controversy quite quickly after a large landslide occurred at the site the same year.

Cllr Finnerty said that while it may not have pleased a lot of local residents, they still needed to be consulted by the authorities. “They cannot be left out in the cold,” he added.

Derrybrien is a small rural village located on a south-facing slope of the Slieve Aughty Mountains in South Galway.

In January 1998, two windfarm developers – Saorgus Energy Limited and B9 Energy Services Limited – applied to Galway County Council for permission to erect 46 wind turbines on three sites in the locality.

Permission was granted to Saorgus for 46 turbines in March 1998 and the second company was granted permission to erect a further 23 turbines in the same month.

Local residents appealed the decisions to An Bord Pleanála, but the higher planning authority upheld the local authority’s decision.

Saorgus applied again to Galway County Council in 2000 for a further 25 turbines – 71 in total. Galway County Council refused permission but on appeal by the developers, An Bord Pleanála granted permission.

During the construction of the 71-turbine project a major landslide of some 450,000m of peat occurred – back in October 2003.

Hibernian Wind Power Limited Galway County Council and the local residents each commissioned separate reports on the events surrounding the landslide and it was widely accepted that construction-related activities caused the landslide.

Pictured: Derrybrien Wind Farm. Photo: Gerry Stronge